Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Intelligent Robots in Field, Factory, Service and Space, March 20-24, 1994., Houston, Texas, USA

Volume

II

Abstract

Real-time tracking of multiple targets or geometrical features of an object using a variable resolution laser scanner is presented. The scanner is characterized by its robustness to ambient illumination, even the sun shining directly into the sensor, and its tracking resolution. The sensor to extract registered range and intensity information for each scanned point on the object at a rate of 18 kHz uses two high-speed galvanometers and a collimated laser beam. Three-dimensional real-time tracking using Lissajous patterns proves to be very attractive for space applications. Integration with the existing photogrammetry-based Advanced Space Vision System (ASVS) is discussed.